UC-NRIJF 


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GIFT   OF 


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1919 


Importance  of  Spanish 

to  the 

American  Citizen 


"It  will  not  be  possible  for  the  people  of  the 
United  States  to  enter  into  close  relationship 
with  the  peoples  of  the  other  American  re- 
publics until  the  Spanish  language  is  more 
generally  spoken  and  written  by  educated 
persons  here."  —  Nicholas  Murray  Butler. 


By 

JOHN   D.   FITZ-GERALD,   Ph.D. 

University  of  Illinois 
SECOND  EDITION 

REVISED    AND     EN 
Price, 


BENJ.    H.   SANBORN   &   CO. 
CHICAGO  NEW  YORK  BOSTON 


Copyright,  1918,  by  Benj.  H.  Sanborn  &  Co. 


'•ct      *  •'   <•      V  c    c         c      <    £, 


IMPORTANCE  OF  SPANISH 

TO  THE 

AMERICAN  CITIZEN 


American  Interest  in  Things  Spanish 

The  United  States  has  always  been  able  to  boast  that  some 
of  its  prominent  men  were  actively  interested  in  Spain.  This  has 
effectively  prevented  the  public  in  general  from  losing  entirely  its 
interest  in  the  Iberian  Peninsula.  We  can  point  in  our  early  days 
to  Washington  Irving,  who,  while  United  States  Minister  at  Mad- 
rid, took  occasion  to  steep  himself  in  the  romantic  legends  of  early 
Spain  and  gave  us  not  only  his  Conquest  of  Granada,  but  some- 
thing artistically  much  more  important,  his  beautiful  Tales  of  the 
Alhambra.  These  legends,  curiously  enough,  had  never  before 
gotten  into  print  in  any  language.  The  Spaniards  themselves 
appreciate  Irving's  interest  in  these  legends  and  were  the  first  to 
recognize  the  service  he  had  done  them  in  thus  calling  attention 
jhereto. 

Later  William  Hickling  Prescott,  with  his  Life  of  Philip  II, 
History  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  Conquest  of  Mexico,  and 
Conquest  of  Peru,  George  Ticknor,  with  his  History  of  Spanish 
Literature,  Longfellow,  with  his  Spanish  Student,  Outre  Mer, 
and  translations  of  exquisite  Early  Spanish  lyrics,  Lowell,  with 


THE  IMPORTANCE   OF   SPANISH 

his  Impressions  of  Spain,  Henry  Charles  Lea,  with  his  History 
of  the  Inquisition  in  Spain  and  The  Moriscos  of  Spain;  Their 
Conversion  and  Expulsion,  Hubert  Howe  Bancroft,  with  his 
thirty-nine  volumes  of  historical  works  dealing  with  our  West, 
Northwest,  and  Southwest,  and  with  Mexico  and  Central  America, 
and  John  Hay,  with  his  Castilian  Days,  have  constantly  fanned 
the  flame  of  our  affection.  Still  more  recently  historians  have 
been  giving  us  new  cause  for  interest  in,  and  gratitude  toward, 
the  Land  of  the  Dons.  We  have  long  known  what  we  owed  to 
France  for  aid  during  our  Revolution.  We  have  not  known 
much  about  our  debt  to  Spain  at  that  time,  and  yet  that  debt 
was  considerable.  Among  other  things  Spain  lent  us  over  a 
million  dollars;  she  granted  our  privateersmen  refuge  in  all  her 
harbors ;  she  permitted  the  purchase  of  supplies  by  the  exchange 
of  commodities;  and  at  New  Orleans,  Pensacola,  and  Havana 
she  showed  us  unusual  privileges,  permitting  us  to  maintain  at 
New  Orleans  a  Special  Commissioner,  Mr.  Pollock,  who  pur- 
chased ammunition  and  provisions,  which  were  sent  up  the 
Mississippi  and  the  Ohio,  and  so  eastward  to  our  troops.  During 
the  whole  of  the  war  Spain  maintained  an  agent  at  Philadelphia 
for  the  purpose  of  watching  events.  Last,  but  not  least,  the 
Count  of  Aranda,  Spanish  Ambassador  at  Paris,  as  early  as 
March,  1775,  suggested  to  the  French  government  joint  interven- 
tion by  France  and  Spain  in  the  approaching  trouble  between  Eng- 
land and  the  Colonies. 

In  spite  of  all  this,  when  mention  is  made  of  Spain,  it  has  been 
the  habit  for  many  years  past,  both  in  this  country  and  in  Europe, 
to  shrug  the  shoulders  and,  with  Nicholas  Masson  de  Morvilliers, 
to  ask :  "But,  what  do  we  owe  to  Spain  ?  And  during  the  last  two 
centuries,  the  last  four,  the  last  six,  what  has  she  done  for  Eu- 
rope?" The  implication  is  only  too  plain.  It  is,  however,  entirely 

4 


TO   THE   AMERICAN    CITIZEN 

erroneous.  It  has  been  the  custom  to  consider  Spain  as  a  country 
of  barbarians,  and  this  has  led  to  the  statement,  often  heard,  that 
"Africa  really  begins  at  the  Pyrenees".  In  this  statement  there 
is  just  enough  truth  to  make  the  half  lie  more  dangerous  than  an 
out-and-out  misstatement  would  have  been.  Persons  with  that 
idea  in  mind  show  their  own  ignorance  of  the  history  of  Spain 
from  its  earliest  times  to  the  present  day,  or  else  they  forget  some 
very  obvious  facts. 

Silver  Latin  in  Spain 

Consider  what  Silver  Latin  would  amount  to  without  the 
rhetorician  Seneca  the  Elder  (born  at  Cordoba,  60  B.C.),  with- 
out his  son,  the  philosopher  and  dramaturge  Seneca  the  Younger 
(born  at  Cordoba,  3  B.C.),  without  the  poet  Lucan,  grandson  and 
nephew,  respectively,  of  the  two  Senecas  (born  at  Cordoba,  A.D. 
39),  and  without  the  Epigrams  of  Martial  (born  near  Calatayud, 
A.D.  43),  and  the  Institutes  of  Oratory  and  the  Maxims  of 
Quintilian  (born  at  Calahorra,  A.D.  35).  There  were  also  Pom- 
ponius  Mela  (who  was  born  at  Tingentera,  Spain,  and  flourished 
under  Caligula  and  Claudius)  and  Columella  (a  contemporary 
of  the  Elder  Seneca,  and  born  at  Cadiz).  And  still  later  we  find 
Prudentius,  the  earliest  of  the  Christian  poets  (said  to  have  been 
born  at  Tarragona,  A.  D.  348)  ;  Isidor  of  Seville  (died  636),  who, 
next  to  Boethius  and  Cassiodorus,  exercised  the  most  important 
influence  upon  the  general  culture  and  literature  of  the  Middle 
Ages,  and  whose  greatest  work  was  his  Etymologiae  or  Origines; 
and  Teodolfo,  Spanish  Bishop  of  Orleans,  famous  in  the  Court  of 
Charlemagne  as  a  poet  and  litterateur,  and  whose  name  will  be  held 
in  remembrance  until  his  triumphant  hymn  Gloria,  laus  et  honor 
ceases  to  be  sung  throughout  the  whole  world  on  Palm  Sunday. 

After  the  dominion  of  Rome  had  disappeared  Spain  still  kept 

5 


THE  IMPORTANCE   OF   SPANISH 

alive  the  operation  of  the  Roman  system  of  jurisprudence,  and 
thus  passed  on  for  the  benefit  of  other  nations  in  later  ages  the 
legal  principles  upon  which  the  civilized  codes  of  today  are  based. 


The  Jews  and  the  Moors  in  Spain 

The  debt  of  the  world  to  Spain  under  Jewish  and  Moslem 
influence  does  not  belong  to  the  field  of  Belles  Lettres.  It  be- 
longs rather  to  the  field  of  the  exact  sciences,  the  study  and  inter- 
pretation of  letters  and  the  production  of  the  comforts  and 
luxuries  of  life.  It  was  under  their  domination  that  the  learning 
of  the  Greeks  and  the  science  of  the  Eastern  peoples  were  kept 
alive  when  they  had  been  lost  sight  of  everywhere  else  in  Europe, 
and  this  was  done  especially  at  the  great  centers  of  Zaragoza  and 
Cordoba.  It  was  from  the  Moors,  too,  that  the  Spaniards  learned 
how  to  irrigate  their  land  and  develop  their  agriculture.  So  thor- 
oughly was  that  work  done,  especially  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Valencia,  that  the  irrigating  canals  built  by  the  Moors  are  in 
operation  today. 

The  circumstances  of  the  Reconquest  gave  Spain  an  ideal 
which  for  centuries  served  as  her  inspiration.  Little  by  little  the 
Moors  were  driven  back  and  various  Christian  kingdoms  emerg- 
ed and  were  gradually  absorbed  by  their  neighbors  until,  with  the 
marriage  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  and  the  consequent  union 
of  the  kingdoms  of  Leon,  Old  Castile,  New  Castile,  and  Aragon, 
the  conquest  of  the  kingdom  of  Granada,  and  the  final  expulsion 
of  the  Moors,  the  history  of  Modern  Spain  may  be  said  to  have 
begun.  At  this  same  time  the  discovery  of  the  New  World  gave 
Spain  an  undreamed-of  source  of  wealth  .for  pushing  her  ambi- 
tious schemes, 

6 


TO   THE   AMERICAN    CITIZEN 

Lexicography  and  Grammar 

We  have  spoken  of  Spanish  literature,  so  far  as  it  concernec^*  / 
Silver  Latin,  but  that  was  not  its  only  period  of  importance.  As 
early  as  1427  Spain  possessed  complete  translations  of  Virgil  and 
Dante,  both  due  to  the  pen  of  Don  Enrique  de  Villena.  Alonso 
de  Palencia  produced  in  1490  the  earliest  Latin  dictionary  with 
definitions  in  Spanish.  It  was  driven  from  the  field  in  1492  by 
another  dictionary  due  to  Don  Antonio  de  Nebrija.  In  1610  Co- 
varrubias  wrote  the  first  dictionary  in  any  modern  language.  In 
1739  the  Spanish  Royal  Academy  completed  in  six  volumes  its 
Dictionary  of  the  Spanish  Language,  and  there  was  no  dictionary 
in  any  other  modern  language  to  be  compared  to  it.  These  matters 
of  translations  and  lexicography  may  justly  be  said  not  to  belong 
to  literature,  properly  so  called;  but  in  creative  work  also  Spain 
can  well  hold  her  own. 

Early  Spanish  Literature 

About  1120  there  was  written  the  Auto  de  los  Reyes  Magos, 
the  earliest  play  at  present  known  in  any  modern  literature.  De- 
spite its  early  date,  its  construction  Shows  real  action  and  keen 
psychology. 

The  Cid  Canipeador,  national  hero  of  Spain,  died  in  1099.  By 
1140  the  Poema  del  Cid  or  Cantor  de  Mio  Cid  was  composed. 
It  is  one  of  the  few  great  epic  poems  of  modern  times  and  shows 
a  unity  of  conception  and  a  sobriety  of  expression  that  makes  it 
superior  to  some  of  the  national  epics  of  other  lands. 

The  first  Spanish  poet  whose  name  we  know,  is  Gonzalo  de 
Berceo,  who  flourished  in  the  first  half  of  the  thirteenth  century. 
His  didactic  works,  written  in  the  form  of  verse  known  as  the 
Cuaderna  Via,  constitute  a  dignified  volume  of  material.  To  the 
same  century  belong  the  legal  and  astronomical  works  produced 

1 


THE   IMPORTANCE   OF   SPANISH 

by  Alfonso  the  Wise  or  under  his  leadership.  At  about  1300  we 
find  the  first  real  novel,  the  Libro  del  Ca/uallero  Cifar. 

Juan  Ruiz,  the  Archpriest  of  Hita,  flourished  in  the  first  half 
of  the  fourteenth  century  and  earned  the  title  of  "Spanish 
Chaucer"  with  his  great  satirical  poem  El  Libro  de  Buen  Amor. 
A  contemporary  of  Juan  Ruiz  was  Juan  Manuel,  who  brought 
into  Spanish  literature  the  Oriental  Tales  and  Apologues  in  his 
Libro  de  los  Exemplos  del  Conde  Lucanor,  written  about  1342. 
The  Jewish  Rabbi  Sem  Tob  de  Carrion  was  one  of  the  favorites 
of  Peter  the  Cruel.  He  left  us  his  important  collection  of  poems, 
under  the  caption  Proverbios  Morales,  which  gives  us  our  first 
example  in  Spanish  literature  of  the  versified  epigram.  The 
Chancellor  Pedro  Lopez  de  Ayala  gives  us  a  very  keen  analysis 
of  court  life  in  his  long  poem  entitled  Rimado  de  Palacio.. 

To  the  fifteenth  century  belongs  the  Spanish  Danza  de  la  Mu- 
e'rte.  In  several  important  respects  this  is  a  more  interesting  ver- 
sion of  the  Dance  of  Death  than  is  to  be  found  in  any  other 
literature. 

The  Literary  Court  of  Juan  II  of  Castile 

The  literary  court  of  Juan  II  of  Castile  (1419-1454)  produced 
a  brilliant  galaxy  of  prose  writers  and  poets.  The  works  of  some 
sixty  poets  are  represented  in  the  celebrated  Cancionero  de  Baena. 
Among  the  most  important  of  the  writers  of  this  period  we  must 
mention  the  prosodian  Enrique  de  Villena,  who  made  one  of  the 
earliest,  if  not  indeed  the  earliest,  complete  translation  of  the 
Aeneid  into  any  foreign  language,  and  who  was  the  first  to  make 
Dante  available  for  his  contemporaries.  Nor  should  we  forget 
such  writers  as  Juan  de  Mena  (1411-1456),  with  his  Las  Trc- 
zientas;  the  great  portraitist  Fernan  Perez  de  Guzman  (  ?1376- 
?1458),  called  the  Spanish  Plutarch  because  of  his  vivid  Genera- 

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TO   THE   AMERICAN    CITIZEN 

ciones  y  Semblanzas;  the  latter's  nephew,  the  versatile  and  dis- 
tingushed  Marques  de  Santillana  (1398-1458),  with  his  sonorous 
Didlogo  de  Bias  contra  Fortuna  and  his  mordant  attack  upon 
Alvaro  de  Luna  in  the  Doctrinal  de'  Privados;  Alfonso  Martinez 
de  Toledo  ( ?1398-?1470),  the  Archpriest  of  Talavera,  whose 
great  satirical  work,  called  by  his  own  title  Arcipreste  de  Tala- 
vera, has  been  rechristened  by  the  public,  which  calls  it  El  Cor- 
bacho;  Jorge  Manrique  (1440-1478),  with  his  exquisite  Coplas 
de  Jorge  Manrique  por  la  muerte  de  su  padre;  the  first  great 
Romance  of  Chivalry,  Amadis  de  Gaula,  and  its  incredible 
progeny,  including  the  Passo  honroso  de  Suero  de  Quinones,  an 
authentic  account  of  a  tourney  that  shows  the  ordinary  Romance 
of  Chivalry  to  be  only  a  pale  reflex  of  the  real  thing,  instead  of  a 
wild  exaggeration;  and  the  various  Romanceros  that  began  to 
be  collected  at  this  time,  and  that  show  Spain  to  have  been  more 
productive  in  this  field  than  was  either  Scotland  or  England. 
Toward  the  end  of  this  century  and  running  into  the  XVIth  we 
find  the  works  of  the  musician-playwright  Juan  del  Encina  ( 1469- 
?1533),  the  "patriarch  of  the  Spanish  stage",  of  whom  there  sur- 
vive many  lyrics,  an  important  "theatre",  and  a  good  body  of 
musical  compositions. 

Political  Extent  and  Importance  of  Spain  in  the  Golden  Age 

In  the  heyday  of  her  Golden  Age  Spain  was  foremost  in  many 
things.  Under  the  Emperor  Charles  V  and  his  son  Philip  II  her 
dominions  formed  one  of  the  greatest  empires  the  world  had  ever 
seen,  and  the  greatest  empire  then  extant.  It  embraced  the  King- 
doms of  Naples  and  Sicily  and  Sardinia,  the  Duchy  of  Milan,  all 
of  Navarre,  Roussillon,  Franche-Comte,  Luxemburg,  Artois, 
Flanders,  and  the  Netherlands,  all  the  Kingdoms  of  Spain,  all  of 

9 


THE  IMPORTANCE   OF   SPANISH 

Portugal,  the  Balearic  Islands,  the  Canary  Islands,  the  Azores,  the 
Madeira  Islands,  the  Cape  Verde  Islands,  Portuguese  West  India, 
Portuguese  and  Spanish  possessions  in  Africa,  all  of  South  Amer- 
ica, all  of  Central  America,  all  of  the  West  Indies,  and  in  North 
America,  Florida  and  much  of  our  South  and  Southwest,  the 
Caroline  Islands,  the  Ladrones,  and  the  Philippines,  the  Spice 
Islands,  and  all  of  those  parts  of  the  East  Indies,  Australia,  and 
New  Zealand  that  belonged  to  Portugal  or  Holland.  And  for  a 
while,  too,  Philip  was  even  King  Consort  of  England.  The  Span- 
ish navy,  with  its  victory  over  the  Turks  at  the  battle  of  Lepanto, 
1571,  proved  itself  to  be,  as  it  had  long  been  credited  with  being, 
the  greatest  navy  that  had  ever  plowed  the  main.  The  Spanish 
infantry  was  confessedly  the  finest  in  Europe.  Spanish 
industries  and  products  were  known  the  world  around.  Houder 
in  his  Declamatio  Panegyrica  in  laudem  Hispaniae  (1545)  said: 
"Of  all  the  nations  of  Europe,  Spain  furnishes  us  with  most  of 
every  kind  of  commodity.  She  sends  us  so  much  wool  that 
Bruges  alone  receives  every  year  36,000  to  40,000  bales."  Shortly 
before  this  date  Spain  was  one  of  the  leading  wheat-producing 
countries  of  the  world.  She  was  famous  for  metal-working,  cord- 
age and  shipbuilding;  while  silk  weaving,  fine  fabrics,  linens,  and 
gloves  were  really  national  industries.  And  who  has  not  heard 
of  the  exquisite  silver  filigree  work  of  Cordoba,  and  of  Cordoba 
leather,  to  say  nothing  of  the  famous  Toledo  swords  and  daggers  ? 
But  this  supremacy  in  territory,  political  power,  commerce,  and 
industry  began  to  diminish  as  soon  as  it  reached  Its  maximum. 
The  defeat  of  the  Armada  in  1588  wrecked  the  Spanish  naval 
supremacy.  The  defeat  of  the  Spanish  troops  by  young  Conde 
at  the  battle  of  Rocroi  in  1643  was  the  deathblow  to  Spain's  mili- 
tary prestige.  The  expulsion  of  the  Moriscos  in  1609  and  1610, 
and  a  vicious  system  of  embargoes  and  taxation  to  support  the 

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TO   THE  AMERICAN    CITIZEN 

foreign  wars  destroyed  agriculture,  commerce,  and  industry  by 
the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century.  This  produced  its  counter 
effect  on  military  operations. 

In  1640  Portugal  recovered  her  independence,  although  Spain 
refused  to  recognize  the  fact  until  1668.  This  deprived  Spain  of 
the  enormous  holdings  of  Portugal  in  India,  Africa,  and  South 
America. 

The  Treaty  of  Miinster  (1648)  recognized  the  independence 
of  Holland,  Zealand,  etc.,  under  the  title  of  The  United  Nether- 
lands. With  them  went  all  the  vast  Dutch  possessions  overseas. 

Roussillon  and  Artois  were  lost  by  the  Treaty  of  the  Pyrenees 
in  1659 ;  and  Franche-Comte  was  ceded  to  France  by  the  Treaty 
of  Nimeguen  in  1678;  while  Luxemburg  went  the  same  way  by 
the  terms  of  the  Treaty  of  Ratisbon  in  1684. 

While  the  next  great  loss  took  place  after  the  period  of  which 
we  have  been  speaking,  it  was  so  directly  a  product  of  conditions 
that  obtained  in  the  Golden  Age,  that  we  are  going  to  mention  it 
here.  We  refer  to  the  Treaty  of  Rastadt,  1714,  by  which  Spain 
lost  Flanders,  Brabant,  etc.,  known  as  the  Spanish  Netherlands,  the 
Duchy  of  Milan,  and  the  Kingdoms  of  Sardinia  and  of  Naples 
and  Sicily.  Spain  thus  stands  stripped  of  all  her  European  pos- 
sessions that  lay  outside  the  bounderies  of  what  we  now  call 
Spain,  and  with  those  possessions  went  all  the  overseas  posses- 
sions belonging  thereto. 

Spanish  Literature  of  the  Golden  Age 

But  this  is  not  the  whole  story,  and  the  part  that  remains  to 
be  told  is  glorious.  Ranking  in  reputation  for  scholarship  and  for 
numbers  with  the  Universities  of  Bologna,  Paris,  and  Oxford 
stand  those  of  Salamanca  and  Alcala,  in  the  latter  of  which  was 
prepared  the  great  Gomplutensian  "Polyglot  Bible,  due  to  the  com- 

11 


THE  IMPORTANCE   OF   SPANISH 

mon  labors  of  the  leading  scholars,  both  Jews  and  Christians. 
Luis  Vives,  the  Valencian  humanist,  carried  Spanish  learning  to 
England,  where  he  lived  for  many  years  as  Fellow  at  Oxford. 

Europe  had  not  yet  recovered  from  the  wave  of  translation 
and  imitation  caused  by  that  great  book,  the  Comedia  or  Tragi- 
comedia  de  Calixto  y  Melibea  (more  often  called  the  Celestina, 
because  of  its  principal  character),  when  she  was  set  afire  anew  by 
an  equally  anonymous  work,  the  first  and  greatest  of  the  pica- 
resque novels,  the  Vida  de'  Lazarillo  de  Tormes,  the  first  known 
editions  of  which  are  of  1554.  The  great  picaresque  genre  had 
thus  been  inaugurated  and  it  had  a  numerous  descent,  only  a  few 
of  which  can  be  mentioned:  Aleman's  Guzman  de  Alfarache 
(1599),  Quevedo's  Historic,  de  la  Vida  del  Buscon  (1626),  and 
Guevara's  Diablo  Cojuelo  (1641).  These  works  were  not  with- 
out influence  on  other  literatures,  either  through  imitation  or 
translation,  especially  in  France  and  England.  Nor  should  we 
overlook  the  pastoral  novels,  as  represented  by  Cervantes'  Galatea, 
Lope  de  Vega's  Arcadia,  Caspar  Mercader's  Prado  de  Valencia, 
and  the  series  of  Dianas  by  various  authors. 

Lyric  poetry  flourished,  and  side  by  side  with  it  went  the 
incredible  development  of  the  Spanish  theatre,  which,  because  it 
refused  to  be  bound  by  the  so-called  Aristotelian  unities,  was 
enabled  to  make  itself  really  national,  and  exert  a  profound  in- 
fluence upon  English  and  French  dramatic  productivity.  It  will 
doubtless  be  recalled  that  in  France  the  first  great  tragedy  and 
the  first  great  comedy  are  built  on  Spanish  originals :  Corneille's 
Le  Cid,  adapted  from  Las  Mocedades  del  Cid  of  Guillen  de  Cas- 
tro; and  Corneille's  Le  Menteur,  made  on  Alarcon's  La  Verdad 
Sospechosa.  To  say  nothing  of  the  host  of  minor  writers,  we  find 
at  our  immediate  disposal  such  men  as  Lppe  de  Vega  (with  1800 
plays  and  more  than  400  autos,  of  which!  470  plays  and  50  autos 

12 

T    ^ 

f    & 


TO  THE  AMERICAN  CITIZEN 

survive),  Tirso  de  Molina  (with  400  plays,  of  which  80  survive, 
among  them  the  original  of  the  entire  Don  Juan  cycle  in  all 
literature,  El  Burlador  de  Seville,  y  Convidado  de  Piedra) ,  Moreto, 
Alarcon  (with  a  literary  baggage  of  somewhat  less  than  thirty 
plays,  but  the  only  author  of  front  rank  who  took  care  to  polish 
what  he  wrote  and  who,  although  he  never  rises  quite  as  high 
as  the  others,  has  left  no  line  that  is  unworthy  of  him),  and  Cal- 
deron  (the  most  representative,  the  most  philosophical,  and  the 
most  lyrical  of  all  the  great  Spanish  dramatists,  of  whose  works 
we  possess  about  120  pieces,  80  autos,  20  entremeses,  jacaras,  etc.). 

And  still  we  have  not  mentioned  a  work  which  is  not  only  the 
greatest  book  in  Spanish  literature,  but,  after  the  Bible,  the 
greatest  single  Jbook  in  the  world :  El  Ingenioso'  Hidalgo  Don 
Quijote  de  La  Mancha. 

While  this  book  has  been  one  of  Spain's  greatest  glories,  its 
fame  abroad  has  indirectly  done  its  author  and  Spain  serious  harm. 
So  much  has  Don  Quijote  overshadowed  the  other  works  of  Cer- 
vantes that  few  persons  even  among  the  elite  realize  that  if  Cer- 
vantes had  never  written  Don  Quijote  he  would  still  be  Spain's 
greatest  novelist  because  of  his  twelve  scintillating  Novelas  Ejem- 
plares.  In  similar  fashion  Don  Quijote  has  so  overshadowed  all 
the  rest  of  Spanish  literature  that  many  persons,  even  among 
those  of  more  than  average  culture,  still  speak  of  Spanish  litera- 
ture as  a  literature  consisting  of  just  one  book :  Don  Quijote,  and 
I  have  myself  heard  that  argument  at  least  twenty  times  in  the 
last  two  weeks  in  the  mouths  of  educators  who  are  administrators 
of  schools  or  of  school  systems  and  who  cannot  see  anything  but 
a  commercial  reason  for  the  present  vogue  of  Spanish. 

Spanish  Art  in  the  Golden  Age 

The  art  of  this  Golden  Age  in  Spain  was  equally  glorious,  as 
witness  the  telling  studies  in  emaciation  and  drab  that  we  owe 

13 


THE  IMPORTANCE  OF  SPANISH 

to  the  brush  of  Zurbaran,  or  the  marvelous  technique  of  the  por- 
traits and  battle  scenes  with  which  Velazquez  endowed  the  world, 
or  the  colorful  canvasses  of  Ribera  and  Carreno,  or  the  lovely 
Madonnas  for  whose  painting  Murillo  seems  to  have  stolen 
Heaven's  own  hues.  But  Murillo  represented  in  Spanish  art  the 
moment  when  the  rose  reaches  its  full  bloom,  and  as  happens  with 
the  rose  when  that  moment  is  reached,  so  Spanish  art  began  its 
immediate  withering  and  decay,  for  Murillo's  successors,  lacking 
his  inspiration,  could  produce  only  insipid  imitations,  however 
perfect  in  mechanical  detail. 

So  it  happened,  also,  in  the  field  of  letters.  With  Calderon 
the  zenith  of  development  was  reached,  and  rapid  was  the  descent 
into  the  dreary  waste  of  an  uncreative  period.  With  the  extinc- 
tion of  the  House  of  Hapsburg  in  1700  came  the  Wars  of  the 
Spanish  Succession  and  the  accession  of  the  first  of  the  Bourbons, 
Philip  V.  This  inaugurated  a  period  of  slavish  imitation  of  for- 
eign models  and  for  over  a  hundred  years  there  are  no  names  that 
need  detain  us. 

The  Renaissance  of  the  Nineteenth  Century 

Despite  her  internal  troubles  during  the  first  half  of  the  nine- 
teenth century,  there  were  here  and  there  signs  of  a  real  renais- 
sance, and  before  the  end  of  the  century  it  had  made  itself  felt  all 
along  the  line.  The  Spanish  drama,  the  novel,  lyric  poetry, 
humanistic  studies,  and  the  fine  arts  had  all  come  into  their  own 
once  more. 

Sculpture  shows  such  names  as  Benlliure  (with  nearly  a  dozen 
statues  in  Madrid  alone),  Sunol,  Marinas,  and  Mora  (who  created 
one  of  the  best  monuments  for  the  tercentenary  of  Cervantes' 
death,  a  monument  that  stands  in  Golden  Gate  Park,  San 
Francisco).  Painting  conferred  upon  the  world  such  names  as 

14 


TO  THE  AMERICAN  CITIZEN 

Fortuny,  the  brilliant  Madrazo  family  of  portrait  painters  (six 
of  them  in  three  generations),  and  the  greatest  of  living  painters 
today :  Zuloaga,  the  cynic,  hard  and  cold,  but  exquisite  master  of 
technique;  and  above  all  Sorolla,  the  warm-hearted  and  radiant, 
whose  canvasses  fill  our  souls  with  sunshine  and  joy. 

The  greatest  humanist  in  the  world  in  the  nineteenth  century 
was  Marcelino  Menendez  y  Pelayo,  professor  at  the  University  of 
Madrid  for  twenty  years,  and  thereafter  until  his  death  National 
Librarian.  His  insatiable  appetite  for  books  is  well  expressed  in 
the  phrase  that  was  often  used  concerning  his  activity  as  Na- 
tional Librarian:  "He  did  not  administer  the  National  Library, 
he  read  it."  In  his  life  there  merged  two  distinct  streams  of 
literary  investigation:  the  philosophico-historical  and  the  philo- 
logico-historical,  and  of  both  streams  there  flows  out  from  him  a 
worthy  continuation:  for  the  latter,  Ramon  Menendez  Pidal.  the 
greatest  Romance  philologian  Spain  has  yet  produced ;  and  for 
the  former  Adolfo  Bonilla  y  San  Martin,  a  prolific  writer  with  a 
mind  that  may  fairly  be  called  encyclopaedic.  / 

Even  science  shows  an  awakening  and  the  world  recognizes^ 
its  leading  histologist  in  the  person  of  Santiago  Ramon  y  Cajal. 
That  biologists  think  highly  of  Angel  Cabrera  Latorre  (youngest 
son  of  the  late  Bishop  of  the  Spanish  Reformed  Church,  Juan  B. 
Cabrera)  is  evident  from  the  fact  that  when  despite  his  youth  he 
was  sent  by  his  government  to  a  recent  international  congress  of 
biologists  held  under  the  patronage  of  the  Prince  of  Monaco,  the 
delegates  elected  him  chairman  of  the  section  on  mammals. 

Lyric  Poetry 

Lyric  poetry  flourished.  Early  in  the  twentieth  century  Juan 
Valera  compiled  a  Florilegio  de  Poesias  Castellanas  del  Sigh 
XIX  (five  volumes,  with  an  historical  introduction  and  biographi- 

15 


THE  IMPORTANCE  OF  SPANISH 

cal  and  critical  notes),  in  which  he  gives  us  poems  by  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty-two  poets,  with  excessive  modesty  omitting 
anything  of  his  own.  Lyric  poetry  is  the  most  difficult  form  of 
literature  to  reproduce  in  translation.  Consequently  little  of  this 
part  of  nineteenth  century  Spanish  literature  is  available  for  those 
of  our  compatriots  who  do  not  read  Spanish,  and  yet  I  am  sure 
that  the  majority  of  those  who  read  Spanish  must  enjoy  the 
works  of  such  writers  as  the  Duque  de  Rivas  (one  of  the  founders 
of  Romanticism  in  Spain),  Espronceda,  Zorilla  (the  author  of 
the  revised  version  of  the  ballads  dealing  with  the  Cid  Campea- 
dor),  the  dainty  Cuban  poetess  Gertrudis  Gomez  de  Avellaneda 
(whose  sonnet  to  Washington  is  one  of  the  finest  tributes  that 
has  ever  been  paid  to  "the  father  of  his  country"),  the  tender, 
melancholy  Becquer,  Campoamor  (the  author  of  the  exquisite 
Doloras),  Nunez  de  Arce  (with  his  stirring  Gritos  del  Combate 
and  fSursum  Corda!),  and  the  sweet  singer  of  nature's  beauties 
(El  Huracdn  and  Niagara),  the  lonely  Cuban  exile  Jose  Maria 
de  Heredia. 

The  Modern  Drama 

The  drama  has  shown  an  equally  vigorous  life  at  home  and  a 
more  widespread  influence  abroad.  Moratin  the  younger  in  1806 
sounded  a  blast  in  favor  of  the  feminist  movement,  with  his  rol- 
licking El  Si  de  las  Ninas,  in  which  he  made,  without  preachment, 
a  serious  attack  on  the  general  training  given  to  young  girls.  To 
Zorilla  we  owe  the  rejuvenation  of  the  Don  Juan  legend,  for  at 
the  Hallowe'en  season  his  play  Don  Juan  Tenorio  is  performed 
during  two  weeks  to  crowded  houses  in  practically  every  theatre 
in  the  country.  Tamayo  y  Baus  produced  a  splendid  and  not  too 
bulky  set  of  plays,  one  of  which,  the  Drama  Nuevo,  is  one  of  the 
great  plays  of  all  literature.  As  a  play  within  a  play  it  has  never 

16 


TO  THE  AMERICAN  CITIZEN 

been  surpassed  in  its  welding  together  of  the  two  sets  of  char- 
acters. Some  years  ago  it  was  adapted  into  English  for  Augustin 
Daly,  under  the  title  Yorick's  Love;  and  recently  The  Hispanic 
Society  has  published  an  exact  translation  of  the  original,  accord- 
ing to  the  Spanish  Academy's  official  edition.  Angel  Guimera,  the 
Catalan,  is  perhaps  the  most  virile  dramatist  in  Spain  today.  His 
Terra  Baixa  has  been  translated  into  Serbian,  Italian,  French,  and 
Spanish,  in  the  latter  of  which  it  went  through  Cuba,  Mexico,  and 
South  America;  and  Mrs.  Fiske  produced  it  some  years  ago 
(1903)  in  this  country  under  the  title  Marta  of  the'  Lowlands. 
Perez  Galdos,  although  primarily  a  novelist,  has  frequently  been 
successful  with  dramas  that  are  keen  studies  of  contemporary 
conditions  in  Spain.  His  The  Grandfather,  (a  dialogued  novel) 
and  Electra  are  both  available  in  English.  Echegaray,  the  mathe- 
matician, civil  engineer,  statesman,  cabinet  minister  (a  man  cast 
in  much  the  same  mold  as  our  own  beloved  Hopkinson  Smith), 
was  also  a  dramatist  and  justified  that  title  by  producing  about 
seventy  plays.  In  1904  he  was  awarded  one-half  the  Nobel  Prize 
for  the  ideal  in  literature  (the  other  half  going  to  the  poet  of  Prov- 
ence, Frederic  Mistral).  He  earned  the  award  by  several  ideal 
works.  El  Gran  Galeoto  has  been  translated  into  several  languages, 
and;  is  familiar  to  us  in  English  through  several  translations  and 
through  the  adaptation  performed  by  Mr.  William  Faversham  and 
his  wife,  Miss  Julie  Opp,  under  the  title  of  The  World  and  His 
Wife.  O  locura  o  santidad  is  available  in  English  under  the  title 
Madman  or  Saint,  and  of  El  loco  Dios  (a  keen  study  of  mono- 
mania) we  have  the  version  entitled  The  Madman  Divine. 

Among  the  ultra-modern  dramatists  we  have  the  Alvarez 
Quintero  brothers  (with  their  keen  studies  of  modern  life  and  its 
foibles)  Jacinto  Benavente  (fondly  called  by  some  of  his  ad- 
mirers the  "Modern  Shakespeare")  ;  Gregorio  Martinez  Sierra 

17 


THE  IMPORTANCE  OF  SPANISH 

(with  his  exquisite  Teatro  de  Ensueno)  ;  Manuel  Linares  Rivas 
(with  La  Rasa)  ;  Eduardo  Marquina  (with  Las  Hijas  del  Cid)  ; 
and  the  late  Joaquin  Dicenta  (exponent  of  socialistic  doctrines). 

For  poetry  we  turn  to  Juan  Ramon  Jimenez  and  Manuel  and 
Antonio  Machado;  whereas  critics  and  essayists  are  represented 
by  Enrique  Gomez  Carrillo  (Guatemalan),  Miguel  de  Unamuno, 
Manuel  Bueno,  Andres  Gonzalez  Blanco,  and  Jose  Ortega  y 
Gassett. 

Many  other  authors  we  must  omit  so  that  we  may  pass  on  to 
the  novel.  But  please  bear  in  mind  that  just  as  the  literary  and 
artistic  crescendo  of  the  Golden  Age  was  contemporaneous  with 
a  political  and  territorial  diminuendo,  so  this  renaissance  of  which 
we  have  been  speaking  has  been  progressing  while  the  country 
has  gone  on  losing  colonial  territory,  and  struggling  with  revolu- 
tions and  counter-revolutions  at  home.  If  you  stop  to  think  about 
it,  you  will  realize  that  this  renaissance  has  been  simply  marvelous. 
Spain  could  not  have  done  it  if  she  had  been  at  heart  the  decadent 
nation  that  some  of  her  critics  declare  her  to  be. 

The  Modern  Novel 

Valera  has  been  credited  with  creating  the  Modern  Spanish 
novel.  You  may  ask  how  this  can  be  when  his  first  novel  ap- 
peared in  1874,  and  at  least  two  other  writers  had  been  doing 
good  work  before  that  date,  i.e.,  the  gifted  Fernan  Caballero 
(1796-1877),  half  Spanish,' half  German  (nee  Carolina  Bohl  von 
Faber),  whose  first  Spanish  .work,  La  Gaviota,  appeared  in  1848; 
and  Pereda,  whose  Esce'nas  montane 'sas  appeared  in  1864.  Both 
these  writers  were  realists  in  the  good  old  Spanish  sense,  which 
they  were  reviving.  But  they  did  not  found  a  school.  Fernan 
Caballero  was  a  keen  observer  of  incidents  and  a  skillful  limner 
of  pictures,  but  she  was  not  so  strong  in  character  delineation,  and 

18 


TO  THE  AMERICAN  CITIZEN 

was  distinctly  weak  in  construction  of  plots.  Pereda,  on  the  con- 
trary, was  a  master  at  character  delineation,  but  his  characters 
are  regional  and  he  makes  an  excessive  use  of  dialect  and  per- 
mits a  polemical  strain  to  color  too  much  of  his  work.  There- 
fore, his  first  great  success  was  Bocetos  al  temple,  which  ap- 
peared in  1876,  two  years  after  Valera's  Pepita  Jimenez.  In  this 
same  year  (1876)  Valera  published  his  second  great  novel,  El 
Comendador  Mendoza,  which  in  turn  was  followed  in  1878  by 
Dona  Luz. 

It  was  the  appearance  of  Pepita  Jimenez  in  1874  that  awakened 
Spain,  and  the  world,  to  a  realization  of  what  Spain  could  again 
accomplish  in  prose  fiction,  if  she  would  return  wholeheartedly 
to  her  native  inspiration  of  more  than  regional  interest.  The 
author  of  it  had  proved  himself  a  thorough-going  realist  of  the 
good  old  Spanish  type,  and  at  the  same  time  an  idealist  and  a 
classicist. 

The  literary  descent  of  this  awakening  shows  such  names  as 
the  following: 

Perez  Galdos,  with  his  incredible  gallery  of  more  than  five 
hundred  portraits  in  the  nearly  fifty  volumes  of  his  Episodios 
Nacionales,  giving  in  novelistic  form  the  history  of  nineteenth 
century  Spain;  with  his  twenty-three  volumes  of  Novelas  Con- 
temporaneas,  seven  volumes  of  Novelas  de  la  primera  epoca,  and 
fifteen  volumes  of  dramas  ; 

Clarin,  the  critic,  and  author  of  La  Regenta; 

Palacio  Valdes,  with  his  stories  of  Andalucia  and  of  Galicia 
(Jose}  Maria  y  Maria,  La  Hermana  San  Sulpicio)  ; 

The  Countess  Emilia  Pardo  Bazan,  with  her  fascinating 
Cuentos  de  Marineda,  and  her  other  naturalistic  stories ; 

The  brilliant  champion  of  social  reform,  Blasco  Ibafiez,  with 
his  keen  studies  of  contemporary  life  in  various  parts  of  Spain 

19 


THE  IMPORTANCE  OF  SPANISH 

(La  Barraca,  Cuentos  valencianos,  Arroz  y  tartana,  La  Bodega, 
La  Catedral,  Sangre  y  Arena,  El  Intruso,  La  Horda,  La  Maja 
desnuda) ; 

And  a  host  of  minor  writers  of  one  good  book  each,  as  well 
as  many  even  of  the  newest  comers:  Pio  Baroja  (with  Los 
ultimas  romdnticos)  ;  Valle-Incla  (with  Flor  de  Santidad)  ;  Mar- 
tinez Ruiz  (with  Las  confesione's  de  un  pequeno  filosofo)  ;  and 
Valera's  own  son,  Luis  Valera,  Marques  de  Villasinda  (recently 
Ambassador  of  Spain  in  Petrograd),  who  has  already  to  his 
credit  more  than  a  half  dozen  novels  (El  filosofo  y  la  tiple,  Visto 
y  sonado,  Del  antano  quimerico,  Sombras  chinescas,  Un  alma  de1 
Dios,  De  la  muerte  al  amor) . 

Nor  should  we  overlook  the  really  distinguished  group  of 
modern  Spanish  women,  other  than  Emilia  Pardo  Bazan,  who 
was  recently  appointed  to  a  chair  in  the  Universidad  Central  at 
Madrid,  thus  reviving  a  tradition  belonging  to  Madrid's  pre- 
decessor, the  celebrated  Universidad  de  Alcala  de  Henares, 
wherein  Francisca  de  Nebrija  for  a  while  replaced  her  learned 
father  Antonio  de  Nebrija  in  his  chair  in  rhetoric.  In  this 
modern  group  will  be  found  the  philologian  and  literary  historian, 
Maria  Goyri  de  Menendez  Pidal ;  the  antiquarian,  the  late  Duchess 
of  Alba;  the  literary  historian  and  critic,  Blanca  de  los  Rios; 
the  educator  and  lecturer,  Maria  de  Maeztu;  writers  of  such 
importance  as  Carolina  Coronado,  Concha  Espina,  Sofia  de  Casa- 
nova, Carmen  de  Burgos,  Faustina  Saez  de  Melgar,  Pilar  Sinues, 
the  poetess  Rosalia  Castro,  and  especially  the  incomparable  Con- 
cepcion  Arenal,  who  made  her  mark  as  a  sociologist. 

With  its  long  struggle  for  constitutional  reform  against  the 
deeply  entrenched  special  interests  of  the  sovereign,  the  clergy, 
and  the  nobles;  with  its  gradual  passage  from  an  absolute  mon- 
archy (which  was  a  theocratic  tyranny  accompanied  by  the  Inqui- 

20 


TO  THE  AMERICAN  CITIZEN 

sition)  to  a  constitutional  monarchy  (with  freedom  of  religious 
worship)  led  by  an  enlightened  king  who  wishes  to  be  king  of  all 
his  people  and  not  merely  of  a  majority  of  them,  the  history  of 
Spain  in  the  nineteenth  century  is  one  of  the  most  thrilling  and 
romantic  stories  to  be  fourfd  in  modern  times. 

As  a  knowledge  of  Spanish  is  the  key  that  unlocks  the  door 
of  this  vast  treasure-house  of  transcendently  important  and  in- 
teresting materials,  it  would  seem  as  though  we  had  at  hand  a 
sufficient  explanation  of  the  importance  of  Spanish  to  the  Ameri- 
can citizen.  But  there  is  more  to  be  said. 

Spanish  America 

From  the  loins  of  this  glorious  Spain  there  have  come  eighteen 
sovereign  and  independent  nations.  The  story  of  the  discovery 
and  conquest  of  the  territory  they  occupy  is  one  of  the  most  amaz- 
ing tales  in  all  history.  Their  long,  uphill  struggle  for  independ- 
ence has  much  in  common  with  our  own  Revolution,  and  will 
therefore  prove  to  be  of  very  great  interest  to  us  in  North  Amer- 
ica. Our  affection  for  Washington  and  other  Revolutionary  and 
pre- Revolutionary  heroes  should  endear  to  us  Bolivar,  O'Higgin's, 
San  Martin,  Sarmiento,  Miranda,  Jose  Marti  el  Apostol,  Cortes, 
Pizarro,  de  So/to,  Ponce  de  Leon,  and  others. 

Since  attaining  their  independence  from  Spain  these  countries 
have  kept  up  a  cordial  relationship  with  the  mother-land  that 
parallels  the  cordiality  that  has  existed  between  ourselves  and  the 
British  Isles.  While  all  of  these  nations  have  traits  in  common, 
due  to  their  common  origin,  and  common  speech,  their  individ- 
ualities, are  quite  clearly  delineated.  It  is  of  prime  importance 
to  us  that  we  attain  unto  a  wide  and  sympathetic  knowledge  of 
their  political*  social,  economic,  and  spiritual  ideals,  their  History, 

21 


THE  IMPORTANCE  OF   SPANISH 

their  art,  their  several  literatures,  their  institutions,  their  constitu- 
tions :  in  short,  their  general  culture. 

We  are  justly  proud  of  the  dignity  and  relative  antiquity  of 
our  universities,  but  we  should  not  forget  that  the  University 
of  San  Marcos  was  established  in  Lima  in  1551  and  that  later 
in  the  same  year  the  University  of  Mexico  was  founded  in 
Mexico  City,  each  of  them  thus  antedating  by  eighty-five  years 
our  oldest  university,  Harvard,  established  in  1636.  The  Uni- 
versity of  Santo  Domingo  was  founded  in  1558,  and  had  a  very 
beneficient  effect  on  all  the  Antilles  and  Porto  Rico,  Cuba,  and 
Venezuela.  Furthermore,  in  1535  Mexico  City  became  the  proud 
possessor  of  the  first  printing  press  to  be  set  up  in  the  Western 
Hemisphere. 

Statesmen  and  Publicists 

We  should  familiarize  ourselves  with  the  great  Hispano- 
American  statesman  and  publicists.  Argentina  presents  us  Drago, 
the  author  of  the  Drago  Doctrine  (which  is  a  corollary  to  the 
Monroe  Doctrine),  and  Wilmart,  who  formulated  some  of  the 
fundamental  principles  of  the  American  League  to  Enforce  Peace 
before  that  League  came  into  existence  at  Philadelphia,  in  June, 
1915,  and  published  early  in  1915  a  careful  study  concerning  The 
American  Ideal;  Perils:  The  Kaiser-Germany. 
^  The  Chilean  jurisconsult  Alejandro  Alvarez  is  one  of  the 
judges  of  the  Permanent  Court  of  the  Hague,  and  holds,  con- 
cerning the  future  of  the  Monroe  Doctrine,  very  valuable  ideas, 
with  which  it  behooves  us  to  become  well  acquainted.  His  fellow- 
countryman  Carlos  Silva  Vildosola  presented  to  and  for  his  com- 
patriots an  arraignment  of  Germany  that  is  quite  as  strong  as 
any  pronouncement  of  our  own.  The  Ecuadorian  Nicolas  F. 
Lopez  recently  made  a  presentment  of  the  attitud*e  of  Ecuador 

22 


,TO   THE   AMERICAN    CITIZEN 

in  the  Great  War.  It  is  a  bit  of  keen  thinking  and  clear  vision 
concerning  international  affairs.  And  then  there  is  the  Urugua- 
yan Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs,  Baltasar  Brum,  who  has  done 
so  much  for  the  cause  of  Pan  American  Solidarity. 

Among  diplomats  we  shall  have  space  to  mention  only  the 
spiritually  minded  Bolivian  Minister  to  Washington  and  Habana. 
Ignacio  Calderon;  the  Honduran  Alberto  Membreno,  quondam 
Minister  of  Public  Instruction  and  Minister  of  Honduras  to 
Spain,  whose  Diccionario  de  H  ondurenismos  is  a  standard  work 
and  has  gone  through  three  editions ;  the  Mexican  Ambassador  to 
Spain,  Francisco  A.  de  Icaza,  man  of  letters  and  literary  histor- 
ian ;  the  Venezuelan  Minister  to  Brazil,  Emilio  Constantino  Guer- 
rero, writer  of  historical  novels ;  the  Uruguayan  diplomat  Alberto 
Nin  Frias,  who  has  been  called  the  most  spiritual  essayist  among 
modern  writers  of  Spanish ;  and  the  three  ambassadors  at  Wash- 
ington from  Argentina,  Brazil,  and  Chile :  Romulo  Naon,  Domi- 
cio  da  Gama,  and  Eduardo  Suarez  Mujica,  who  exhibited  such 
consummate  tact  in  the  ABC  Mediation  between  our  country 
and  Mexico,  and  who  stand  so  earnestly  for  Pan  Americanism. 

Leaders  in  Education,  Philosophy,  and  Spirituality 

Turning  to  their  leaders  in  education,  philosophy,  and  spirit- 
uality, we  find  men  whom  it  is  well  worth  our  while  to  know  and 
know  intimately. 

In  Argentina  Ernesto  Nelson  inaugurated  the  dormitory  sys- 
tem in  the  National  University  of  La  Plata,  represented  his 
country  at  the  St.  Louis  Exposition  in  1904,  at  the  San  Francisco 
Exposition  in  1915,  and  at  the  Second  Pan  American  Scientific 
Congress  1915-16,  and  served  for  years  as  Inspector  General  of 
Secondary  and  Special  Education  for  his  country.  Few  Amer- 
icans know  any  Hispano-American  country  as  well  as  Dr.  Nelson 

23 


THE  IMPORTANCE  OF  SPANISH    , 

knows  .the  United  States,  His  intimate  friend  and  colleague  is 
Jose  Ingenieros,  the  philosopher  and  psychologist,  who  is  intensely 
interested  in  all  educational  affairs  and  especially  in  those  that 
are  concerned  with  the  problem  of  determining  how  far  a  state 
is  warranted  in  spending  sums  for  the  extraordinary  care  of  de- 
fectives when  its  funds  are  not  sufficient  for  the  proper  educa- 
tional care  of  all  its  effectives.  Carlos  Octavio  Bunge,  the  educator 
and  psychologist,  has  won  considerable  attention  as  a  novelist, 
and  also  as  an  essayist  who  thinks  clearly  and  writes  attractively 
on  literature  and  public  affairs,  national  and  international. 

In  Chile  Jose  Maria  Galvez,  professor  of  English  at  the  Uni- 
versity of  Chile  ( Santiago) ,  wields  an  influence  for  righteousness 
in  civic  and  international  affairs  that  it  would  be  difficult  to  esti- 
mate at  its  full  value.  Any  detailed  account  of  his  private 
philanthropies  would  offend  his  modesty,  and  as  it  would  also 
constitute  a  breach  of  confidence  it  cannot  be  attempted. 

Enrique  Jose  Varona,  the  Cuban  philosopher,  statesman,  and 
educator,  has  thrown  his  influence  into  practically  every  move- 
ment for  the  advancement  of  his  country.  Louis  A.  Baralt  is 
another  Cuban  educator.  His  paper  on  What  Remains  to  be 
Done1  for  Education,  read  before  the  Second  Pan  American 
Scientific  Congress,  was  the  most  spiritual  study  that  was  pre- 
sented to  the  Division  of  Education.  Jose  de  la  Luz.y.  Caballero 
founded  in  Cuba  the  Colegio  de  El  Salvador,  and  was  a  power  in 
general  education  and  morality  for  the  entire  rising  generation 
during  the  half  century  that  preceded  Cuban  Independence. 

Eduardo  Monteverde,  professor  of  Mathematics  at  the  Uni- 
versity of  Montevideo,  was  elected  President  of  the  Panama 
Congress  of  Religion  in  1916.  Luis  J.  Supervielle  is  a  great 
Uruguayan  banker  with  a  vitally  spiritual  outlook  on  life.  Dr. 

24 


TO   THE  AMERICAN    CITIZEN 

Jaun  Zorrilla  de  San  Martin  is  one  of  Uruguay's  literary  and 
spiritual  glories.  All  three  of  these  Uruguayans,  together  with 
Emilio  Barbaroux,  Rector  of  the  University  of  Montevideo,  and 
Dr.  Francisco  Ghigliani  of  the  Government  Committee  on  Phys- 
ical Education,  have  earnestly  supported  the  work  of  the  Y.  M. 
C.  A.  because  of  its  ethical  and  moral  values.  So  has  indeed  the 
Uruguayan  Government.  These  same  gentlemen  and  the  Urugua- 
yan Government  took  unprecedented  steps  to  entertain  and  safe- 
guard, physically  and  morally,  the  sailors  of  our  fleet  when  it 
recently  visited  Montevideo;  and  in  a  reception  just  before  the 
fleet's  departure  Dr.  Zorrilla  de  San  Martin,  Chairman  of  the 
Popular  Committee  for  the  Reception  of  the  U.  S.  Pacific  Fleet, 
and  a  devout  Roman  Catholic  layman,  made  them  a  farewell 
address  of  such  lofty  spirituality  that  our  leaders  in  Montevideo 
had  it  printed  and  distributed  to  the  fleet.  It  would  be  well  if 
all  our  people  could  read  it. 

Eugenio  Maria  de  Hostos  was  born  in  Puerto  Rico,  and  left 
his  mark  in  educational  affairs  not  only  on  his  native  island,  but 
even  more  widely  on  Santo  Domingo  and  Chile,  his  work  in 
Santo  Domingo  being  the  epoch-making  reorganization  of  the 
schools  of  that  land. 

In  this  list  of  intellectual  and  spiritual  leaders  we  must  not 
fail  to  give  due  recognition  to  the  splendid  women  who  have 
graced  the  culture  of  our  Hispano-American  neighbors. 

Ernestina  Lopez  de  Nelson  is  a  well-known  educator  and 
literary  historian,  who  was  sent  by  Argentina  as  one  of  her 
official  delegates  to  the  St.  Louis  Exposition  in  1904.  She  had 
previously  earned  her  doctor's  degree  at  the  University  of  Buenos 
Aires,  her  thesis  being  <j  Existe  una  literature  americana.?  Later 
she  accompanied  her  husband  to  the  San  Francisco  Exposition, 
and  to  the  Second  Pan  American  Scientific  Congress.  Her  sister, 

25 


THE  IMPORTANCE  OF   SPANISH 

Elvira  V.  Lopez,  a  Doctor  of  Philosophy  of  Buenos  Aires,  with 
a  thesis  on  El  Movimiento  Feminisia,  is  also  well  known  in  edu- 
cational circles  beyond  her  own  country. 

The  wife  of  Professor  Eduardo  Monteverde  accompanied  her 
husband  to  the  Second  Pan  American  Scientific  Congress  as  rep- 
resentative of  the  organization  in  Uruguay  corresponding  to  pur 
own  W.  C.  T.  U.  Despite  her  civic  activities,  Mrs.  Monteverde 
is  the  mother  of  eleven  splendid  children.  She  speaks  English 
in  a  manner  that  is  simply  captivating. 

From  Chile,  Mrs.  Amanda  Labarca  Hubertson  was  sent  as 
traveling  fellow  for  three  years  to  the  United  States.  She  is 
now  devoting  herself  to  literary  labors  and  to  spreading  among 
her  own  people  a  knowledge  of  the  English  language  and  liter- 
ature and  of  American  literature  and  institutions. 

Maria  Luisa  Dolz^  member  of  a  prominent  Cuban  family, 
founded  in  Havana  the  most  important  private  school  (of  high 
school  and  college  grade)  for  young  ladies,  and  it  would  be  diffi- 
cult to  estimate  the  full  value  of  her  influence  exerted  through 
this  school  on  the  womanhood  of  her  country. 

Mrs.  Blanche  Zacharie  de  Baralt,  wife  of  Dr.  Luis  A.  Baralt 
of  Cuba,  is  perhaps  one  of  the  most  versatile  women  alive  today. 
She  lectures  in  France  and  the  United  States  on  Spanish  or 
Spanish-American  literary  and  cultural  topics  and  can  address 
her  audiences  with  equal  fervor  and  eloquence  in  Spanish,  French, 
of;  English. 

Lexicographers  and  Grammarians 

It  is  a  noteworthy  fact  that  in  modern  times  the  best  Spanish 
grammarians  and  lexicographers  have  been  South  Americans. 
The  Venezuelan,  Andres  Bello,  who  is  claimed  by  Chile  because 
most  of  his  literary  life  was  passed  ,in  Chile,  wrote  a  Gramdtica 

26 


TO   THE   AMERICAN    CITIZEN 

de  la  lengua  castellana  which  is  a  standard  work  of  reference 
and  a  real  work  of  art.  His  compatriot,  Rafael  Maria  Baralt, 
was  the  author  of  a  Diccionario  de  Galicismos  which,  although 
published  in  1855,  is  still  the  leading  authority  on  the  subject. 
The  Colombian,  Rufino  Jose  Cuervo,  whose  Diccionario  de  Con- 
struction y  Regimen  de  la  lengua  castellana  proves  him  to  have 
been  the  prince  of  lexicographers,  wrote  also  Apuntationes 
criticas  sobre  el  Lenguaje  bogotano,  and  Notas  to  all  the  recent 
editions  of  Bello's  famous  grammar,  thus  showing  himself  to 
have  been  likewise  the  peer  of  all  the  grammarians. 

Writers 

In  any  attempt  at  a  resume  of  Hispano-American  writers 
and  historians  one's  chief  trouble  is  a  very  real  embarrassment 
of  riches.  Even  a  hasty  glance  at  the  field  reveals  the  impos- 
sibility of  doing  justice  to  the  eighteen  countries  concerned 
within  the  limits  of  such  a  pamphlet  as  this.  Literary  criticism, 
the  essay,  the  novel,  poetry,  and  the  drama,  have  all  been  done 
creditably,  as  has  also  more  erudite  work  in  the  field  of  history. 
But  while  we  renounce  the  idea  of  giving  even  a  summary  list 
of  the  men  writers,  we  cannot  resist  the  temptation  to  set  down 
a  few  names  of  prominent  women  writers. 

Eduarda  Mansilla  de  Garcia,  whose  pen-name  was  "Daniel", 
was  an  Argentinian  writer,  who  through  her  historical  novels 
frequently  expressed  her  ideas  concerning  the  education  and 
social  position  of  women. 

Juana  Manuela  Gorriti  de  Belzu  was  born  in  Buenos  Aires, 
but  her  literary  activities  concern  chiefly  Bolivia  and  Peru,  m 
which  countries  she  lived  most  of  her  life.  She  wrote  short 
stories  and  tales,  founded  a  girls'  school  in  Lima,  edited  a  news- 
paper, and  was  at  all  times  a  great  social  and  literary  power, 

2T 


THE   IMPORTANCE   OF   SPANISH 

Clorinda  Matto  de  Turner,  a  Peruvian  poetess  and  writer  of 
tradiciones,  a  la  Ricardo  Palma,  did  some  excellent  work  in  both 
genres,  and  her  Aves  sin  nido,  dealing  with  the  Peruvian  Indians, 
is  a  kind  of  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin,  in  its  social  importance. 

Another  Peruvian  novelist  of  standing  was  Mercedes  Cabello 
de  Garbonero.  In  Las  Consecuencias  she  treats  gambling ;  in  El 
Conspirador  she  exposes  the  revolutionizing  habits  of  disgruntled 
politicians ;  and  Blanca  Sol,  her  most  popular  book,  is  a  kind  of 
Peruvian  Madame  B  ovary. 

"Cesar  Duayen"  is  the  pen-name  of  Emma  de  la  Barra,  an 
Argentinian  novelist,  whose  Stella  is  recognized  as  a  fine  inter- 
pretation of  the  society  of  Buenos  Aires  and  its  peculiarities. 

Mercedes  Marin  de  Solar  was  in  some  respects  Chile's  most 
successful  writer  of  occasional  verse.  Her  young  compatriot  of 
the  present  generation,  Blanca  Vanini  Silva,  wrote  in  1912  an 
exquisite  allegory  concerning  the  sinking  of  the  Titanic :  Solidari- 
dad  en  el  Dolor  (Catdstrofe  del  Titanic). 

Colombia  can  easily  hold  her  own  in  the  matter  of  women 
writers.  In  addition  to  the  religious  poetess,  Silveria  Espinosa 
de  Rendon,  and  Agripina  Montes  del  Valle  (called  the  "Muse 
of  Tequendama"  because  of  her  verses  descriptive  of  the  cele- 
brated Tequendama  Falls),  there  are,  for  example,  Mercedes 
Alvares  de  Florez,  and  Soledad  Acosta  de  Samper.  The  former 
treats  the  well-worn  theme  of  love,  but  treats  it  in  a  very  un- 
usual way,  giving  us  an  account  of  her  own  courtship  and  her 
subsequent  married  life.  Soledad  Acosta  de  Samper  embraced 
many  fields  of  letters,  but  her  specialty  was  the  historical  or 
biographical  article,  and  the  editing  of  a  magazine  for  women : 
La  Mujer. 

The  Dominican  poetess  Salome  Urena  wrote  on  ideals  of 
peace  and  progress,  founded  the  society  Los  Amigos  del  Pais, 

28 


TO  THE  AMERICAN  CITIZEN 

and  established  the  first  school  for  girls  in  Santo  Domingo.  By 
her  marriage  with  Francisco  Henriquez  she  became  the  mother 
of  Pedro  and  Max  Henriquez  Urena. 

Cuba  can  well  boast  of  her  women  writers :  the  poetess  Luisa 
Perez  de  Zambrana;  the  great  sonnetist,  Mercedes  MataYnoros, 
and  two  other  writers  of  verse :  Nieves  Xenes  and  Aurelia 
Castillo  de  Gonzalez.  These  last  two  ladies  were  elected  Corre- 
sponding Members  of  the  Cuban  Academy. 

Even  little  Puerto  Rico  can  boast  of  having  produced  such 
a  poetess  as  Lola  Rodriguez  de  Tio,  who  was  for  many  years 
a  favorite  figure  in  literary  circles  in  Cuba. 

Few  will  dispute  Mexico's  primacy  in  lyric  poetry,  with  the 
exquisite  erotic  and  mystic  poetess  Sor  Juana  Ines  de  la  Cruz. 

These  are  only  a  few  random  hints  at  the  wjeajihu^f-  ideas 
in  history,  diplomacy,  international  affairs,  education,  literature, 
philosophy,  and  spirituality  that  are  to  be  found  in  the  lands  to 
the  south  oi  us,  and  that  a  knowledge  of  Spanish  will  place  at 
our  disposal.  Only  after  we  shall  have  removed  the  "barrier  of 
language"  shall  we  be  able  to  enter  into  that  vital  spiritual  com- 
munion with  our  southern  neighbors  which  will  permit  us  to  throw 
the  united  influence  of  the  independent  nations  of  the  Western 
Hemisphere  into  those  spiritual  movements  that  hold  out  the  most  . 
promise  of  an  enduring  peace  throughout  the  three  Americas. 


29 


THE  HISPANIC  SERIES 

SPANISH—  THE  LANGUAGE 
GRAMMAR 

Bushee,  Alice  H.  (Wellesley  College),  Fundamentals  of  Spanish  Grammar. 
Moreno-Lacalle,  J.  (United  States  Naval  Academy),  Elementos  de  Es- 
pafiol. 

COMPOSITION 
Burnet,  P.  B.   (Manual  Training  High  School,   Kansas   City,   Missouri). 

Spanish  Syntax. 
Espinosa,  A.  M.  (Leland  Stanford  Junior  University),  Advanced  Spanish 

Composition  and  Conversation. 

Moreno-Lacalle,  J.,  Spanish  Commercial  Correspondence. 
Wilkins,  L.  A.  (DeWitt  Clinton  High  School,  New  York),  Elementary 

Spanish  Prose  Book. 


Third  Spanish  Book 
READERS 
Berge-Soler,   Eduardo,  and   Hatheway,   Joel    (both    of   High    School    o< 

Commerce,  Boston),  Elementary  Spanish-American  Reader. 
Espinosa,  A.  M.,  Elementary  Spanish  Reader. 
Seymour,  A.  R.  (University  of  Illinois),  Elementary  Spanish  Reader. 

METHODS 
Wilkins,  L.  A.,  Spanish  in  the  High  Schools—  A  Handbook  of  Methods 

SPANISH—  THE  LITERATURE 
ELEMENTARY  TEXTS 

Bourland,  Caroline  B.  (Smith  College),  Dos  Coraedias  Contemporaneas. 
Burnet,  P.  B.,  El  Capitan  Veneno  (Alarcon). 
Fitz-Gerald,  J.  D.,  El  Pajaro  Verde  (Valera), 

Hendrix,  W.  S.  (University  of  Texas),  Articulos  Escogidos  (Larra). 
Owen,  A.  L.  (University  of  Kansas),  National  Legends  of  Spain 
Owen,  A.  L.,  and  Lister,  J.  T.  (Olivet  College),  La  Conjuracion  de  Venecia 

(Martinez  de  la  Rosa). 

Todd,  Gretchen  (Smith  College),  Zaragiieta  (Carri6n  y  Aza). 
Van  Home,  John  (University  of  Illinois),  Short  Stories  (Trueba). 

ADVANCED  TEXTS 

Bushee,  Alice  H.,  La  Prudencia  en  la  Mujer  (Tirso  de  Molina). 
Crawford,  J.  P.  W.   (University  of  Pennsylvania);   Fitz-Gerald,  J.   D.; 

and  Umphrey,  G.  W.  (University  of  Washington);  Anthol- 

ogy of  Spanish  Literature. 
Fitz-Gerald,    J.    D.,    and    Leora    A.    (University    of    Illinois);    Electra 

(Galdos),  and  La  Verdad  Sospechosa  (Ruiz  de  Alarcon). 


Fitz-Gerald,  J.  D.,  and  Hill,  J.  M.  (Indiana  University),  Un  Drama  Neuvo 

(Tamayo  y  Baus). 
Engraham,  E.  S.  (Ohio  State  University),  La  Estrella  de  Sevilla  (Lope 

de  Vega). 

HISPANIC  AMERICA 

ARGENTINA 

Laguardia,  Garibaldi  and  C.  J.  B.  (both  of  United  States  Naval  Acad- 
emy), Selections  from  the  Literature  of  Argentina. 

Nelson,  Ernesto  (University  of  La  Plata,  Argentina),  Alma  de  Nina 
(Podesta). 

BRAZIL 
Selections  from  the  Literature  of  Brazil. 

CENTRAL  AMERICA 

Starr,  Frederick  (University  of  Chicago),  Selections  from  the  Literatures 
of  Central  America. 

CHILE 
Selections  from  the  Literature  of  Chile. 

COLOMBIA 

Selections  from  the  Literature  of  Colombia. 

CUBA 
Sens,  Homero  (University  of  Illinois),  Selections  from  the  Literature 

of  Cuba. 

MEXICO 
Espinosa,  A.  M.,  Selections  from  the  Literature  of  Mexico. 

PERU 
Umphrey,  G.  W.,  Selections  from  the  Literature  of  Peru. 

SAN  DOMINGO 
Henriquez  Urena,  Pedro  (University  of  Minnesota),  Enriquillo  (Galvan). 

URUGUAY 
Nin  Frias,  Alberto  (Montevideo,  Uruguay),  Ariel  (Jose  Enrique  Rodo). 

VENEZUELA 
Rivas,  A.  C.  (Pan  American  Union,  Washington,  D.  C.),  Selections  from 

the  Literature  of  Venezuela. 
Soto,  R.  A.  (University  of  Illinois),  Lucia  (Emilio  Constantino  Guerrero). 

PORTUGUESE— GRAMMAR,  LANGUAGE,  LITERATURE 

Costa,  Louis  Philip,  A  Portuguese  Grammar. 

An  Elementary  Portuguese  Reader. 

O  Suave  Milagre   (Ega  de  Queiroz). 

Goodell.  Reginald  R.  (Simmons  College),  An  Elementary  Portuguese 
Commercial  Reader. 


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